The Framework Handbook

Welcome to the 1,050 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 44,581 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Pesto!Problem: You’re a fast-growing startup, but you’re struggling to hire great engineers right now.Solution: Pesto—a platform that matches the millions of talented developers in India with the one million unfilled engineering roles in the West. Pesto’s developers are trained—on both hard and soft skills—through a rigorous bootcamp. The result? Access to a growing pool of highly-qualified, vetted engineering talent, right at your fingertips.Pesto has successfully placed developers at companies like Synthesis School, Rippling, OnDeck, Alloy Automation, and more.To talk to Pesto about filling those engineering roles that have been plaguing your investor updates for months, click the link below and tell them Sahil sent you!Today at a Glance:Frameworks are compasses—they provide clarity by creating structure through which to evaluate situations, deploy shortcuts, and execute sound decisions.When used appropriately, they can meaningfully improve the quality of your decision-making (and reduce stress along the way).The Framework Handbook below provides 20 useful frameworks and tips on when to put them to use.The Framework HandbookEvery single day, you are faced with thousands of questions, challenges, and decisions.These decisions can range from small and simple (what color shirt to wear) to large and complex (whether to quit your job). While an individual decision may not feel overwhelming, when taken in total, our lives can begin to feel like we are navigating a small boat on the open ocean—during a hurricane.Fortunately, there are frameworks that can help us navigate these treacherous waters—our compasses, if you will.Frameworks provide clarity by creating structure through which to evaluate situations, deploy shortcuts, and execute sound decisions. When used appropriately, they can meaningfully improve the quality of your decision-making (and reduce stress along the way).Here are 20 useful frameworks & when to use them:The Feynman TechniqueThe Feynman Technique—developed by famed American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman—is a proven method for learning anything.Here’s how it works:Identify a topic: What is the topic you want to learn more about? Identify the topic and write down everything you know about it. Read and research the topic and write down all of your new learnings (and the sources of each). This first step sets the stage for what is to come.Try to explain it to a 5-year-old: Attempt to explain the topic to a child. Once again, write down everything you know about your topic, but this time, pretend you are explaining it to a child. Use simple language and terms. Focus on brevity.Study to fill in knowledge gaps: Reflect on your performance in Step 2. How well were you able to explain the topic to a child? Where did you get frustrated? Where did you resort to jargon or get stuck? These are the gaps in your understanding. Read and study to fill them.Organize, convey, and review: Organize your elegant, simple language into a compelling story or narrative. Convey it to others. Test-and-learn. Iterate and refine your story or narrative accordingly. Review (and respect) your new, deeper understanding of the topic.True genius is the ability to simplify, not complicate. Simple is beautiful.Use It When: You need to learn anything new.Directional Arrow of Progress"Study the undeniable arrows of progress." — Josh WolfeThe future is extremely difficult to predict—but there are clues. Look at the trend line of progress and where it's pointing—directionally, not precisely. Invest (or build) accordingly.Famed investor Josh Wolfe—one of the smartest, kindest people I have ever met—developed this framework to accurately predict where the future of technology is heading. If it’s good enough for Josh, it’s good enough for all of us.Use It When: You are deciding what to invest or build on a longer time horizon.The Eisenhower Decision MatrixPresident Dwight Eisenhower was an American military officer and 34th President of the United States. He was known for his prolific productivity.His secret? He always differentiated between the urgent and the important.An "urgent" task is one that requires immediate, focused attention to complete. An "important" task is one that promotes or furthers your long-term values, goals, or principles. Remember: Tasks can be both urgent and important.Place all of your tasks on a 2x2 matrix of urgency and importance:Important & UrgentImportant & Not UrgentNot Important & UrgentNot Important & Not UrgentPrioritize, delegate, or delete accordingly.Use It When: You are prioritizing your to-do list.The Regret Minimization FrameworkA framework developed by Jeff Bezos as part of his decision to leave a lucrative hedge fund job at D.E. Shaw to pursue founding Amazon....